Stradivarius violins are so important that they come with their own biographies. Several hundred of them survive today, and they're so prized, you can trace their lineages through the musicians who played them over the centuries.

The instruments have been valued at prices ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to several million. That kind of money attracts a lot of nonmusicians, like investors — and thieves.

There's always intrigue involved when one of the instruments goes missing. They've been stolen out of Carnegie Hall, out of a New York City apartment, out of a London sandwich shop — and, most recently, from a parking lot in Milwaukee.

Stealing The Lipinski

Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond had just finished a performance on a frigid Wisconsin night in January of this year.

With a rare violin, the Lipinski Stradivarius, slung over his shoulder, he walked out into the freezing parking lot toward his car.

Nicolette Kocsardy plays the 1732 Duke of Alcantara Stradivarius at UCLA. "It's very light compared to any violin I've held," she says. "I never had anything this precious in my hands."
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Nicolette Kocsardy plays the 1732 Duke of Alcantara Stradivarius at UCLA. "It's very light compared to any violin I've held," she says. "I never had anything this precious in my hands."

Daniel Hajek/NPR

Kocsardy is a graduate student at UCLA. The school owns this Strad, made in 1732, worth about $2 million.

"The first thing I noticed was how light it is," Kocsardy says. "It's very light compared to any violin I've held. I never had anything this precious in my hands."

It's usually locked away in a vault on campus, but now Kocsardy gets to play it for the first time.

"It's very sensitive," she says. "It's like a really nice car that you just lightly push the pedal, and then it's zooming by."

Back in the '60s, this Strad was also stolen. Either that, or the man who had it on loan accidentally left it on the roof of his car and drove off.

Either way, it was found beside a freeway on-ramp — that's the story, at least. Each Stradivarius seems to have some story of survival.

Case Closed

Back in Milwaukee, days went by without a trace of the Lipinski Stradivarius, which was on loan to Almond.

It seemed like the perfect crime. Even before the instrument was stolen, the thief had watched Almond's every move.

"The guy knew where I lived, he knew my kids' names," Almond says. "He had actually attended a concert — and I hope he enjoyed the concert. ... This was a very, very premeditated incident that was on this guy's mind for at least five or six years."

One detail that the thief overlooked, though, was that an item that hot can't stay hidden for very long.

Deceptive Cadence covers the world of classical music. Hosted by Tom Huizenga and Anastasia Tsioulcas, it's an open space for discussion, discovery, music listening and news. Want to know more? Read our introductory post. Have a question or comment? Contact us.